Summer vacation. The very idea of having months off without having to be in the same old routine that happens the rest of the year…. well, that sounds amazing. My nieces and nephews are enjoying the time out of the classroom, but we are lucky enough that they find way to keep their minds & bodies busy. They all seem to have plans for some point of the summer. The one that brings me to blogging today is my nine-year-old niece Aya.
She’s been to a couple of summer camps already. Girl Scout camp which let her canoe, run races and lots more. She has another camp on the calendar too — one that will help her learn how to care for horses. When she & her mom were talking through other options two other things rose to the top quickly for Aya — a tech camp that would teach her computer skills and a trip to my brother’s farm.
Aya LOVES her netbook. She got it at Christmas and has enjoyed getting to do some things online. My sister is rightfully protective of the kinds of things allowed and of course Aya wants to already be doing the same things my niece in grad school is doing online. She’s already helped me with a blog post 
on flooding, her artwork was a Wordless Wednesday and she was featured in the video on one of my very early posts. Well, the tech camp was right up their alley! Aya got to learn new things and they are in a private zone that my sister can see, review and can decide what is ok to be shared further. Aunt Janice was just thrilled to see Aya’s first project included Beale Street… she’s learning so fast!
With her new skills, she headed off to visit my brother’s farm. She loves Ray’s farm — its a small farm in Northwestern Ohio. He has a huge garden, some livestock (chickens, pigs, sheep and goats), great dogs, a huge old barn, a big pasture and the opportunity to visit with lots of folks coming and going as friends come for their days to harvest, feed, pull weeds, etc. It is a bit like a 9 year old’s dream, especially when there are baby animals to love on. Before she left, I asked if she’d be willing to do a blog post about it for me. Its taken a little bit of time, returning from the trip, sending brother off for his visit with their papa’s family in Japan, etc but she got it done before heading back out.
She pulled her photos together into a poster on Glogster. The title is a factual “These are pictures of my trip to my uncles farm in Ohio” and she’s placed several photos on the poster as well as an animoto of photos & music. She’s getting some great experiences this summer, even if her Aunt Janice put her to work a tiny bit. 🙂
I just wonder who she will be trying to convince to buy her a horse!
I love this picture. Cute kids…both of them!